Movie Review: ‘Deadpool’

Plot: A former soldier turned mercenary is diagnosed with cancer, and volunteers to be subjected to a shady experiment to cure him and turn him into super soldier. He winds up disfigured but with the ability to heal all wounds, and sets out to get revenge on the person who destroyed his life and rescue his girl.

Review: Boy, weren’t we excited when we learned that Ryan Reynold’s was going to play Deadpool in Wolverine: Origins. The character was at the height of popularity and they had cast the part really well. Then that leaked copy came out, the one everyone assumed was a pre-effects reel that still needed work…and it turned out to be the final copy…we were left disappointed for so many reasons. Deadpool as a character was most heavily tarnished, with the basic premise of the character being thrown out the window and the general shittiness killing any chance of him continuing in the franchise.

But some people would not let it end there. Reynold’s in particular was very attached to playing the character again while the spin-off project got bounced around development hell for a full decade. The character’s popularity continued to rise and now we finally have it: Deadpool.

It must be said that despite the wait it could not have come at a better time. With The Avengers raising the stakes, the X-Men tying themselves up in time travel and DC getting super, super serious and gritty something as juvenile and determinately goofy as Deadpool comes as a breath of fresh air. It does not take itself even slightly seriously, but unlike some movies that aim to be quirky it manages to drag along a serviceable story.

It’s the generic superhero tale about a guy who gains special powers, avenges evil, learns a lesson and rescues the damsel in distress. They cut the origin tale in between the opening action set piece, a clever move that means we’re not checking the time waiting for the red spandex to turn up and provides an emotional link to the character. They’ve roped in a couple of X-Men to tie it all to the rest of the X-Men franchise in the form of Colossus (Stefan Kapičić, stepping into the role vacated by Daniel Cudmore) and newbie Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) to provide some more spectacle during the fight scenes. These two are both very cool and provide good comedy foils for Reynold’s, as well as some guidance for the anti-hero. Negasonic Teenage Warhead in particular is bad-ass, and will hopefully open the doors to a new generation of X-Men characters in the movies. Although, as a huge X-Men nerd, I have to gripe a little about Colossus not having to breathe while in his armoured form. Damnit people!

As to Reynold’s himself: he was born for the role. It’s hard to pick another pairing of actor and comic character that feels so perfect. They have the same brand of humour and he’s obviously loving every second of it. Morena Baccarin provides the heart of the film as love interest Vanessa, and the two leads share some serious chemistry, adding an unconventional (for mainstream cinema) sexually charged romance. If you’re a fan of the current incarnation of the character – the demented, pop culture spouting, overly violent, fourth wall breaking nutbag that Rob Liefeld had very little hand in despite his yammering online – you’ll be very happy with how it’s portrayed in this long awaited film. You’ll also have a blast picking all the Easter Eggs and jabs at Wolverine: Origins.

So at the end the end of the day what do we get? A fairly generic superhero movie with more crude humour, gratuitous violence, sex and nudity and absolutely no deep seated moral issues. It doesn’t exactly break the genre in the way Super, Watchmen or Kick-Ass did but it has a lot more fun with it.

Plus it gets a bonus point for the opening credits listing the producers as ‘Asshats’. That is seriously worth an entire star.

I appreciated the in-jokes quite a bit. I also thought that weaving the origin story within the story was a much better way to get to the action. Had I had to wait around, I would have disliked the love story aspect more.

I do think that the first action sequence is more interesting than the finale–negasonic teenage warhead aside. It had some good car chase elements, which are usually flying airplane chases in most superhero movies, and some lovely graphic blood and flesh splatters.